BlackBerry posts even worse than expected Q3

BlackBerry loyalty hits a new low in the UK as users switch to iPhones

BlackBerry on Friday posted its fiscal third-quarter results and just as everyone expected, things have gotten substantially worse since for BlackBerry since last year’s November quarter. The only question now is whether things are bottoming out ahead of a miraculous John Chen-led turnaround or if the end is near. Leading into Friday morning’s earnings results, analysts were expecting a loss of -$0.44 per share on $1.596 billion in revenue, which is down sharply from BlackBerry’s loss of -$0.22 per share on sales totaling $2.7 billion in the fiscal third quarter last year. The numbers are now in, and things were even worse than the Street was expecting, as BlackBerry’s quarterly loss widened to -$0.67 per share on $1.2 billion in revenue.

The company said it shipped just 1.9 million smartphones during the November quarter, down from 6.9 million in the same quarter last year. The Waterloo, Ontario-based vendor no longer reports subscriber figures.

BlackBerry also announced a five-year deal with Foxconn that will see the two companies co-develop some BlackBerry devices. Foxconn will then build those devices and manage the inventory.

“This partnership demonstrates BlackBerry’s commitment to the device market for the long-term and our determination to remain the innovation leader in secure end-to-end mobile solutions,” said BlackBerry CEO John Chen. “Partnering with Foxconn allows BlackBerry to focus on what we do best – iconic design, world-class security, software development and enterprise mobility management – while simultaneously addressing fast-growing markets leveraging Foxconn’s scale and efficiency that will allow us to compete more effectively.”